KDs are designed/developed/inspired/mused/auto-suggested/indigested to make folks think; an especially uncommon experience among Democrats, Republicans, and jingoistic mainline denominationalists who continue to discourage dissent with their ever-threatening thought police.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Advent, 3

That may be my
favorite song of all time; expressing my deepest desire, greatest prayer, and
most fervent ambition.

I want to live a
wholly holy life for Him in praise and thanks for the gift that's especially
celebrated/noticed around this time of the year.

Of course, it's
hard.

Proverbs 21:2.

That's why we
celebrate the reason for this season.

He bridges the
distance between desire/prayer/ambition and reality.

Desire/prayer/ambition:
David Crowder's Wholly
Yours.

Reality: Willie
Nelson's There's Nothing I
Can Do About It Now.

Or as I explained
to a brother about someone who doesn't get it/Him in the spirit of Titus 1:16:
"The difference between authentic believers and posers like
her/him is authentic believers know they're hypocrites who can't save
themselves."

1 John 1.

@#$%

Near the Sheep
Gate entrance to Jerusalem which is not too far from the Golden Gate entrance
to the Temple where I visited many times when I was a really important high
steeple preacher, Jesus saw an invalid of 38 years hanging out with the blind,
lame, paralyzed, and otherwise disabled people who gathered at the Bethesda
pool just inside the old city because, well, uh, it was where they,
uh, hung out together while hoping for something/Someone to come along to, uh,
heal 'em.

Seeing the
man had been hanging around at the pool for a long time in such a seemingly
hopeless state, Jesus asked eyeball-to-eyeball with disarming directness,
"Do you want to get well?"

That is the
question; and the question itself indicates emotional, intellectual, spiritual,
and physical health have more to do with volition than
hyper-determinists/fatalists, uh, think.

Do you want to
get well?

Do you?

Do you want to
improve?

Do you want to
get better?

Jesus is more
than suggesting a direct connection between desire/prayer/ambition and reality.

Maybe that's why
He also said, "Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will
find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you."

Do you want to get well?

Maybe that's
why Franklin's daddy always talked about decision.

It's a decision
to get well.

A decision to get
well is the first step to healing.

What we decide
goes a long way in determining our destinies.

Puuuuuuuhleaaaaaaase don't
get caught up in those sophomoric debates on free will versus predestination.

Even Calvin
talked about volition in determining outcome (read his commentaries more than
his commentators).

Yeah, I believe
we're predestined.

The Bible says
so.

Yeah, I believe I
have the free will to choose.

The Bible says
so.

Paradoxical?

Absolutely!

So thank God for
His ultimately gracious control (predestination) while never forgetting personal
responsibility (choice).

Enough on that
last rabbit trail.

Let's just get
back to Jesus; which is always the best thing to do now before then.

He asked,
"Do you want to get well?"

@#$%

Two blind men
shouted out to Jesus as He was leaving Jericho, "Lord, Son of David, have
mercy on us!"

Jesus stopped and
asked, "What do you want me to do for you?"

They said,
"We want to be well. We want to see."

Immediately,
Jesus healed them.

Clue.

@#$%

Oswald Chambers:
"A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us if we are not
simple."

Have we made
trusting Jesus too complicated?

Again, OC:
"Every time we have gone back in spiritual communion, it has been because
we have impertinently known better than Jesus Christ."

Are we too smart
for God?

OC: "If we
are not experiencing the 'much more,' it is because we are not obeying the life
God has given us, we are taken up with confusing considerations."

Is it/He really
that simple?

Jesus: "Seek
first...[Him]...and all these things will be given to you as well."

It can't be that
easy!

True.

There's a
prerequisite.

Jesus: "If
you had faith as small as a mustard seed, you could..."

@#$%

Regularly, people
ask me to heal them.

You know what I
mean.

Sooner than
later, I always say, "Silver and gold I do not have; but what I have, I
give you. Jesus!"

Jesus is the
answer to every question.

Only Jesus has
divine answers to our human challenges.

Only Jesus has
the divine ability and affection to help/heal.

Nobody but Jesus
has more than Band-aids for what ails us.

Only Jesus saves.

@#$%

Remember Anna?

She was there at
His first advent as the Babe of Bethlehem.

Luke: "She
was very old...She never left the Temple but worshiped night and day, fasting
and praying. Coming up to Joseph and Mary, she gave thanks to God and
spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of
Jerusalem."

Peterson:
"The Temple in Jesus' day, like the church in ours, was full of those who
had their minds on business and gossip. But Anna was there to
worship. Her single-mindedness was rewarded when she recognized Jesus as
God's redemption."

Psalmist:
"God inhabits the praises of His people."

Simply, God works
spectacular/supernatural/saving graces in the lives of those who worship Him really/authentically.

@#$%

Are you a poser
or an authentic?

Good trees
(authentics) bear good fruit.

Bad trees
(posers) don't.

Getting closer
and closer and closer to Jesus yields...fruit.

Conversely,
moving away from Jesus yields...nothing.

Samuel:
"Those who honor Him are honored by Him."

Hebrews:
"God is a rewarder of those who diligently/earnestly seek Him."